


Super Secret Self Defense

by 530_and_some_fandoms



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky helps her with that, Bullying (mentioned), Endgame Fix-It, Gen, Morgan Stark is a bean, Morgan is getting made fun of, Natasha Romanov Feels, Natasha Romanov Lives, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Nebula Needs a Hug (Marvel), Nebula is a Good Bro (Marvel), Nebula is great, Not Canon Compliant, Parent Pepper Potts, Pepper doesn't know about the self defense stuff, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Endgame, Precious Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Sam is just there, Self Defense, Soul Stone (Marvel), Tony Stark Feels, Vormir, Wholesome, no beta we die like men, ooc probably, unfortunately tony is still dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:48:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21983917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/530_and_some_fandoms/pseuds/530_and_some_fandoms
Summary: When Morgan gets made fun of at school, Bucky, Sam, and Nebula step in.Meanwhile, Natasha has no idea why she is alive.OrThe Endgame Fix-It that nobody asked for, but I cried writing anyway
Kudos: 19





	1. I

Natasha Romanoff shot up and gasped for air. Her lungs and head hurt. In fact, now that she thought about it, her whole body ached. She had forgotten where she was until she looked up the sheer, purple cliff.

_Natasha ran toward the cliff, with the full intention to jump but Clint shot an arrow and the small explosive on the end knocked her away. She pulled herself up as her best friend made a running start toward the cliff and jumped off. She couldn't let him do that; she wouldn't. She jumped and grabbed him midair, attaching him to a grappling hook as they fell a couple of stories. Clint slammed into the cliff wall and grabbed tightly to Natasha's wrist._

_"Damn you," Clint said. He tried to reach for Natasha's hand with the one that wasn't holding her wrist, but it was too far a stretch. They were both breathing hard._

_"Let me go," Natasha whispered. It was the only way. It was the only way to get all the stones and Natasha wouldn't sacrifice Clint. He had too much to lose._

_"No," there were tears in Clint's eyes and he shook his head, "Please no,"_

_"It's okay," Natasha said, trying to mask the fear in her voice. If she pushed off and let go now, there was no coming back now. No serum or stone could save her from that._

_"Please," Clint said weakly. His grip loosened enough so that she could push off. She took her chance._

_She could see Clint shouting at her as she fell, but she couldn't hear what he had said. All she could hear was the wind in her ears. She fell down, down, down and she remembered all that she had to fight for._

_Clint had his family and so did Tony. But didn't she too? She had the Avengers, no matter how broken and messy they were. They had to save what was gone from the world._

_Natasha remembered that Steve once said that they didn't trade lives. That was over now as the ground grew closer. She was trading hers._

_Natasha just hoped that her death would not be in vain._

Natasha had just died, hadn't she? Was this the afterlife? Why was she here? Even she had thought the afterlife would be slightly more spectacular and less likely to have the stone that was blood-stained by the others that had been sacrificed here.

Natasha stood up, a little light-headed at first. She tried to activate her Quantum Suit but to no avail.

She looked around. The landscape hadn't changed and when she looked up she couldn't see Clint, only the Red Skull looking down the cliff, directly at her. She couldn't make out his face at that distance, but if he was looking down at her that must mean something.

Natasha ran several different scenarios in her head. The Avengers had beaten Thanos was number one on her list of possible causes, and she hoped it was true. Or someone had used the Infinity Gauntlet to bring her back, assuming they had collected all the stones. Or a soul for a soul. Someone had sacrificed themselves to bring her back. She doubted that was it though. There were no other people, deceased or otherwise, at the bottom of this cliff.

But if her suit didn't work, that begged the question.

How long had she been here?

(-##-)

Nebula knocked on the door of the Stark cabin. She heard footsteps coming towards the door and it opened with a creak. Pepper stood behind the door and Nebula gave her a quick once over. Her clothes were all in place and her eyes weren't red and puffy.

That was good. It had been over a year since the final battle with Thanos and while Pepper had been better lately, when Nebula came over Pepper's eyes had held the remnants of unshed more often than not.

"Hello Nebula," Pepper said with a small smile, "Come in,"

Nebula stepped inside.

"How are you?" Nebula asked, her words slightly clumsy. She was still trying to break the habits she had been drilled into when she was young.

"Good. And you?"

"I'm good. How's Morgan?" Pepper's smile fell a little.

"Some kids made fun of her at school today. I had Sam and Bucky pick her up so I could get some work done. They're upstairs playing dress-up with her,"

Nebula nodded. She was familiar with that game. Morgan liked to put tiara's and flower crowns on Nebula, insisting that Nebula was a princess. Nebula could never bring herself to correct the little girl.

Nebula waved to Pepper and made her way up to Morgan's room. She could hear Bucky talking inside. She slowly opened the door.

Instead of being littered by dress-up clothes, shoes, and other accessories, Morgan's room was as clean as a five-year old's could get. Nebula was slightly confused, but she followed Morgan's eyes to Bucky, who was pointing to a shoe.

"Now, these shoes have a reinforced sole, which means that your kick is going to be twice as painful," The man was saying. Nebula was confused.

"This isn't dress up," she said. Morgan turned and threw her a brilliant smile.

"That's what I said!" the little girl. Nebula noticed that Morgan was missing one of her front teeth. As if reading Nebula's mind, which Nebula knew was impossible for a human to do, Morgan said:

"I lost a tooth today at school! See!" Morgan opened her mouth wide, letting Nebula see where the tooth was supposed to be.

"Good job," Nebula congratulated.

Bucky handed Morgan to shoe in his hand and then stood up again.

"The human body has 206 bones. I will now teach you how to dislocate someone's body in 230 ways-"

"Dude, she's a kid," Sam said, looking over at Bucky, unimpressed.

Nebula sat down next to Morgan and folded her legs "criss-cross applesauce" (as Morgan liked to call it). Sam and Bucky stared at each other like they were having a silent conversation. She was largely unfamiliar with Terran anatomy, and Bucky seemed like he knew a lot about it. She was interested.

Bucky broke up the staring contest by turning around gathering something on the floor. When he turned around, Nebula saw that Bucky had grabbed a Kermit the Frog hand puppet and put it on his hand.

"Hey kids. Today we are going to learn how to dislocate someone's body. Are you all ready?" he said, in an impression of Kermit the Frog. Nebula could hear Sam's quiet groan, but she didn't pay it any mind. Bucky was already going into the first way to dislocate someone's shoulder.


	2. II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha tries to find a way home, Clint receives a life-changing message, and Morgan learns a little

Natasha looked up at the dull purple sky. Sand dunes stretched in front of her as far as the eye could see, only interrupted by the tall mountain that was to Natasha's back. The one that she fell off what felt like a minute ago. But if she had died and then come back, then her friends, her family really, must have succeeded in collecting all of the Infinity Stones.

She checked her small pager that would have sent Tony insane if he had seen it. It was extremely outdated, and wasn't the best way to communicate, but it was reliable and at least worked. And she was thankful that she had it now. There was no way any Stark Phone could get reception here and Natasha wasn't even sure if the pager would send the message. At any rate, the message would send extremely slow. It might get to Earth in a year, five years, or even longer.

There was only power for one message. She had to make it count. She typed out the message, but before she could sent it, a figure cast a shadow over Natasha. She craned her neck to look up at the frankly ugly face of the Red Skull.

"Natalia Romanova,"

"Red Skull," Natasha greeted politely, if a bit coldly.

"This planet is stuck in time vacuum for those who reside here while the Soul Stone is hidden here. You need no food or water while you are here, just as I do. You will not age here, just as I have not,"

"So the planet provides when the Soul Stone is here? Isn't that great," Natasha said, keeping her voice impassive. No doubt miss eating food in the time it took for her message to get to Earth and for her team to come to get her.

"But it is sustainable. Good luck on your message," Red Skull floated away, having the last word. The person, if he could even be called that, that was the Red Skull set Natasha on edge.

"Are there any other people on this planet?" Natasha called as he floated away.

The Red Skull looked over his shoulder, still floating away.

"We are the only living beings on this planet, if that's what you are asking," Natasha nodded once. The Red Skull turned back and continued to float away.

Natasha looked back to her pager and typed out a message. She prayed that it would make good time to Earth. If she had to live the rest of her life with only Red Skull for company, she might as well pitch herself off that mountain again.

Natasha sighed. This could take a very long time.

(-##-)

One Year, Six Months, Three weeks, Five days, 13 Hours, 17 minutes, and 27 seconds later

Clint looked up from Nathaniel's homework that he was supposed to be checking. While the homework itself was easy, explaining to the over excited preschooler who was sure he was right was not.

"Come on now Nat. We both know that this is green," Clint said, pointing at the bush that Nathaniel had colored brown.

"It's winter. The bushes aren't green," Nathaniel said stubbornly. Clint gave a small laugh.

"But it's not winter in this picture," Clint said. His phone buzzed in his pocket. He subtly pulled it out and checked it, while still giving his attention to Nathaniel. He had mastered the ability a long time ago with Cooper and when he was still with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. If he missed a text, it could mean the missing of a mission, and Clint didn't want to be fired and he sure didn't want to have unnecessary deaths on his hands. The habit of constantly checking his phone had stuck with him, and now he was especially grateful.

The text was from an unknown number, but Clint would recognize the concise writing style anywhere.

_Still here_

_-Natasha_

And the fact that Natasha had signed her message also helped.

Clint almost fell out of his seat.

"LAURA?" Clint yelled, surprise and disbelief laced in his voice.

"What Clint?" Laura said from the living room.

"Natasha's back," Clint said.

"What?" She asked, before poking her head out of the doorway from the living room to the kitchen.

"Natasha's back," Clint said quietly. Tears threatened to spill out of his eyes. Nathaniel, caught in the middle of the conversation, had no idea what was going on.

"She's back?" Laura asked, looking at Clint in disbelief. "How do you know?"

Clint showed her the message on his phone. When Laura looked back up at her husband, Clint noticed there were tears in her eyes too.

"How do you know if this is real?" That made Clint freeze for a second. He didn't. But he wanted to give Laura a good explanation to why he had so much hope in this. He thought back to what Bruce had said over a year and a half ago, just minutes after he had brought back all of the people that had crumbled to dust.

"Bruce tried to bring Natasha back. And I think he might have," he looked down at Laura, "The message probably took a really long time to get here though, which is why it's here so late,"

Laura nodded.

"You don't believe me do you?" Clint asked. Laura shook her head, disagreeing with Clint's question.

"I just... I just don't want you to get your hopes up,"

"I just have to check," Laura nodded.

"Okay," Clint caught her in a kiss.

"Eww. Mommy and Daddy are kissing!" Nathaniel said. Clint had completely forgotten that he was supposed to be checking his homework. Or working with him on it. There was no real pressure on homework in preschool.

Clint smiled and broke the kiss.

"Thank you," he said to Laura.

"If you can find her, bring her back,"

"I will," he whispered, "Right after I finish proving to your son that the bush on his homework is green and not brown."

The bush was left brown.

(-##-)

"So, if we are attacked, what five parts of the body can we punch to cause the most pain immediately?" Bucky asked Morgan and Nebula. It had been a couple of months since Bucky's first defense lesson and while Morgan wasn't getting made fun of anymore, she insisted on getting her lessons still. According to Morgan, the lessons were fun.

Nebula wasn't complaining. She thought it was a good idea for such a young human to defend herself. And she also wanted to get to know how to defend herself and, if need be break them as painfully as possible.

"Eyes, groin, Adam's apple, knee caps, and temples," Nebula and Morgan recited in unison. Of course, Pepper didn't really know about this, though Nebula suspected that Pepper had her own suspicions to what they were doing up in Morgan's room once or twice a week.

"Good. What is the quickest way to a man's heart?" Bucky said with a small smile?"

"Through the rib cage," the two replied.

Bucky nodded.

"I think you are now ready for the fine art of," Bucky turned around and grabbed something from behind him on the floor, "handling knives,"

Nebula heard Sam sigh from the corner where he was supervising.

"Why?" Sam asked. His question went unanswered.

Bucky handed both Nebula and Morgan small plastic knives and they got to work.

\---

A few weeks later, Pepper was chopping some fruit up in the kitchen for a salad while Nebula was watching from the kitchen table. Morgan ran into the room, a plastic knife in her hand.

"Mommy, you have to chop it like this," she pulled aside a strawberry and stabbed it. Pepper looked at her daughter fondly.

"I doubt that you can chop strawberries very well if you do that, honey, but I'll keep that in mind,"

Morgan thought for a minute before turning to Nebula.

"Auntie Nebula? How do you stab a strawberry?" Nebula got up from the table and stalked over to Pepper and Morgan, pulling out her own knife. Nebula stabbed a small strawberry from the top and pulled it off the chopping board. She ate it off the end of the knife.

"Like that," Nebula said. Morgan looked up at her mother with begging eyes.

"Can I eat a strawberry," Pepper smiled.

"Of course. Just try not to make a mess," she said before returning to making her salad. Morgan grabbed a couple of strawberries in her small hands and deposited them onto a plate that Nebula held out to her. Morgan walked to the kitchen table and stabbed her first strawberry and stuffed it into her mouth.

For a couple minutes, the kitchen was silent except for the sound of Morgan eating and occasionally stabbing another strawberry. Pepper sat down at the table next to Morgan with her salad and started eating as well.

After a few minutes, Pepper got a phone call.

"Hello, Bruce," she said cheerfully. Bruce said something that Nebula couldn't make out. Pepper's eyes widened. The look was almost comical on her.

"Really. Are you sure?" Bruce said something. Pepper smiled. Nebula wasn't sure why because Bruce wouldn't be able to see it.

"Thank you Bruce. Could you tell me if anything else comes up?" Pepper paused and let Bruce speak. "Okay. Thank you again. Bye,"

Pepper hung up. She took a deep breath. Nebula watched her, wondering what had happened. Pepper looked unstable, but not quite like she was going to cry.

"What's wrong?" Morgan asked, ever curious, "Why did Uncle Bruce call?"

Pepper looked at Nebula and then glanced at Morgan.

"Natasha's alive. They are going to bring her home,"


	3. III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha come back and Pepper throws a party

Natasha lost track of time after she sent her message. All she knew was that it took a very long time. Her pager had died soon after the message was sent out. She just hoped that the message ended up getting to Clint even after her pager died. Otherwise, she would be stuck here forever.

She found a place close to the mountain that she could call "home" until someone arrived. Anyone really. If she could find anyone, she could hitch a ride and get back to Earth even if her message never got there.

But the days passed and no one came. She counted the days to the bast of her ability, even though she was sure that Vormir days were different than Earth ones.

Not that the days could be separated from each other. The thick clouds hid the sun, making the whole planet dark. If Natasha didn't take note of where the sun was a certain time, she didn't notice the difference between night and day.

The Red Skull showed up sometimes, and sometimes she was simply happy to have someone to talk to. The time she spent on Vormir reminded her of the five years she had spent at the Compound, trying to round up the remaining Avengers to keep the sliver of peace that was left on Earth. She was always treading lightly during those years, trying not to aggravate anyone; the result was that outside of calls containing updates of the universe's stability, Natasha was mostly silent.

She had felt isolated then, and she felt isolated now.

Natasha sighed and looked across the vast sand dunes from her makeshift home (a crevice in the side of the mountain). The scenery, while beautiful at first, was now boring to look at. The sand rarely shifted and the purple cliff was always there, its sharp fingers scraping the sky. Some days, the mountain seemed to touch the clouds. Natasha was tempted to explore the planet, but if someone were to come she wouldn't be there. And not to mention that she could get lost and never find her way back here.

At least she didn't need food here. Natasha would have been dead days after she woke up. Or was resurrected for a better word.

The sun was sinking low behind the thick cloud cover. Red Skull was on the edge of the cliff, looking out over the horizon as he often did in the evenings. The sun set was slow and made Natasha lethargic just watching it.

She didn't just sit very often. Natasha had often found different ways to entertain or distract herself in the time she had been here, whether it be walking aimlessly or even resorting to building a sand castle once or twice. More often than not, however, Natasha was mind-numbingly bored.

Which was why she was very glad when a ship finally broke the thick clouds on Vormir.

At first, Natasha thought she was surely hallucinating. She had been pretty much alone after all this time and she had hear of people's minds conjuring up worse things for them to see. She had been here for, well she didn't really know how long in Earth years. She didn't even know how long a year on Vormir lasted. Certainly she had been there for enough time for her mind to play tricks on her.

Another part of Natasha was consumed with bright, burning hope. Perhaps her message had reached Earth and someone was here to get her off this stupid planet. Or maybe it was another ship, with different people with probably different reasons and goals for being here. Even so, this could possibly be her way off this planet.

The ship was quickly approaching the ground out in the middle of the dunes. Natasha leapt up from her perch and sprinted toward the ship. As she got closer to it, she could faintly see the outline of the Avengers symbol on the ship.

Oh thank God, Natasha thought, relieved that her message had reached Clint and had taken less time than she had originally thought. These people were here for her, not the Soul Stone that she had sacrificed her life for.

She could hear the ship land with a loud thump against the sand. Natasha's feet were soaking wet from running through the water to get to the ship, but she couldn't find it in her to care. She was getting off this planet, with it's bland scenery and even blander company. Natasha was finally going home.

As she was running, she wondered who would be on the ship. Clint, almost definitely, and probably Rocket or Carol, someone who knew how to drive a ship. Maybe Steve, he was one of her closest friends anyway. Probably not Tony; he had a family and was probably caught up in something on Earth.

The door of the ship opened when she was about 200 yards away from it. She saw Clint walk out from inside followed by who she thought was Carol.

"CLINT!" Natasha shouted. Clint and Carol's head snapped toward her and then Clint started running toward her.

"NAT!" They met in the middle, trapping each other in a suffocating hug that was so, so welcome after however long of being solitary.

"Oh Natasha I thought you were dead," Clint whispered before he pulled away from the hug and held Natasha at arm's length, "Don't do that ever again,"

Natasha laughed.

"I don't plan on it," Clint broke into a smile.

"Thank God," he said, before pulling her back into a hug.

After a couple of minutes, they broke apart and started to head back toward the ship. Carol was waiting at the edge of the ramp for the two friends.

"Ready to blow this popsicle stand?" Carol asked with a small smile.

"Definitely," Natasha said, approaching Coral and giving her a hug. Carol accepted it, though it was awkward, but Natasha didn't mind. She hadn't had human contact (excluding the Red Skull) for however long she had been on this planet. Speaking of...

"How long was I gone?" Natasha said as she broke away from the hug.

"Your message came after a year and a half. It took us another month to get here, considering Rocket was out of contact and I'm the only other one who knew how to fly a spaceship. Most everyone had to agree the message wasn't fake for us to get out here too," Carol answered.

Natasha nodded.

"Thank you. It didn't sound easy,"

"It wasn't," Clint answered, walking behind Natasha and Carol, "but it was worth it. Ready to go home?"

"Of course,"

(-##-)

Nebula sat next to Pepper, who was anxiously tapping her foot, at the rebuilt Avengers Compound. Considering the grounds had to be completely replaced after the final battle with Thanos, Nebula thought it must have been some sort of miracle that it had been rebuilt so quickly. But the grounds being replaced was not why Nebula was sitting next to Pepper, both of them anxious beyond words.

Carol had sent a message saying that they would be arriving later in the afternoon. Of course, Pepper thought it mandatory to come and because Nebula was currently at the Stark's house, she agreed to go too. Pepper probably would have brought Morgan too, but she was at school and Pepper didn't want to pull her out.

After several hours of waiting, a ship appeared out of the clouds. Everyone else waiting (Bruce, Steve, Bucky, Sam, Wanda, Rhodey, and several others that Nebula didn't bother putting names to) stood up in anticipation. Either Clint and Carol came back with Natasha, or they didn't. Carol didn't give any indication if they had found Natasha or not.

Nebula hoped that the Silence on that part was a good sign, a sign that Natasha was with them. Nebula had grown to like Natasha in the times that they had met in the five years after the first devastating snap, something the media was calling the Blip, but Nebula didn't think the name quite covered it. "Blip" made the event sound comical, and in reality, it was anything but.

In the end, Nebula truly hoped that Carol and Clint had found Natasha.

She watched as the ship finally landed. A few seconds after it touched down on the landing pad, the door to the ship opened and Clint walked out.

"She's back!" he shouted to the small crowd that had formed, looking elated at having his friend back judging by the wide smile on his face.

A small cheer rose up and many of the people Nebula was standing with rushed toward the ship as Natasha walked down the ramp. It would seem that the woman was sorely missed. Pepper stayed where she was though. She was smiling, but Nebula noticed that there were a few tears in her eyes. It was understandable, Nebula supposed. Watching someone return from being "dead" for over a year and a half and not have your own husband walk off that ramp must be devastating.

Nebula watched Pepper as Natasha made her way through the small crowd, giving hugs, handshakes, and smiles. She seemed grateful to be back, but Nebula was most concerned about Pepper as Natasha slowly made her way toward her.

There was a wide smile on Natasha's face as she approached Pepper. Pepper took a step away from the bench she had been previously sitting on, hugging a folder and StarkPad to her chest for dear life. Nebula suspected that there was nothing in the folder and no need for the tablet, and that they were only there for support.

"Pepper!" Natasha said, enveloping her in a hug, folder and all. Pepper looked surprised. A hug was very uncharacteristic of Natasha, but Nebula could be sure that after a year and a half on a barren planet could mean that Natasha would be doing many thing uncharacteristic of her normally for the time being.

"Welcome back," Pepper said. The happiness in her voice was not feigned as far as Nebula could tell.

"I would have thought that Tony would be here too," Natasha looked around, searching for her friend, "Is he here?"

Nebula watched as Pepper's happy smile broke and more tears welled up in her eyes. The landing pad had fallen silent as everyone realized what Natasha had said. Nebula glared at Carol and Clint, who (fortunately or unfortunately for them, Nebula wasn't sure) weren't looking at Nebula. hey didn't tell her? They left it to Pepper.

Nebula knew that Pepper could handle it, but Nebula didn't want her too. Natasha beat her to it though, as Nebula noticed that Natasha realized what happened. She was sharp, and good at reading people. Nebula was glad for that.

But that didn't mean she necessarily wanted to watch the aftermath.

Nebula watched as Natasha's smile crumbled as she realized what happened to Tony. Nebula knew that she had probably made the correct guess to what had happened to him, but that wouldn't take any of the sting away. Nebula almost wished it did.

Natasha enveloped Pepper in another hug and Nebula was amazed that Pepper had yet to shed a tear. She was keeping herself together.

"I'm sorry," she heard Natasha whisper to Pepper.

If Pepper said anything back, Nebula didn't hear it.

(-##-)

Somehow, Natasha appeared for dinner several nights later, along with the rest of the Avengers that could come (and Happy). The group wasn't as large as it could have been, but it was definitely a sizable amount of people, far more than Nebula had ever seen in the Stark house before.

Morgan was having a blast. Clint and Laura had brought their kids and Morgan and the youngest Barton (Nathaniel, if Nebula recalled correctly) were running around and having a great time.

Pepper had done the house up nicely. This was a celebration dinner of sorts.

There were people everywhere. It almost looked like the mountains of food already prepared wouldn't be able to feed everyone in the house.

Nebula took to watching Morgan running around the house with Nathaniel on her tail. Someone had to actively watch her while Pepper was hosting, just to make sure the little girl wouldn't slip into the garage to fiddle with some of her dad's old inventions. Nebula watched as the little girl grabbed a plastic knife from the table and thrust it toward Nathaniel. Nebula saw how she was also careful not to hit him. For that, she was grateful, because if Morgan did stab Nathaniel there would certainly be chaos.

Nathaniel, playing along, fell onto the floor with a giggle, but Bucky noticed the little kids playing.

"No, M. You hold it like this," Bucky said, repositioning her hand on the knife, "If you hold it like how you were, you could get a serious injury to your hand or fingers," Morgan nodded and went back to playing with Nathaniel.

Natasha must have noticed the scene going down because Nebula saw her leave her conversation to walk over to Bucky. Nebula also walked over, trying to keep an eye on Morgan as she weaved in and out of other party-goers' legs.

"Have you taught her?" Natasha asked, staring at Bucky intensely over her drink.

"Yes," he answered, "She knows how to dislocate a person's body in 230 ways, how to land a good punch and kick, and how to handle a knife if she needs to,"

Natasha nodded, took another sip, and looked out over the party.

"What was it for. Originally?"

This time, Nebula answered.

"She was getting made fun of at school,"

"Does Pepper know?" Nebula and Bucky shook their heads.

Natasha nodded, then spoke.

"Did you take into account that the bones of most of the children her age are in the final stages of fusing together? It could be used to her advantage,"

Bucky glanced at Nebula, who shook her head. That was a foreign concept to her. Human babies were born with more bones than were in their adult body and they fused together while they were still young? Interesting.

"No, we didn't think about that,"

The conversation fell silent for a moment before someone else spoke up.

"What did I just hear?" said a voice from behind Nebula. She jerked around and came face to face with none other than Happy Hogan.

"Happy?"

"What are you teaching her?" Happy stage whispered. It looked to Nebula like he was desperately trying not to scream.

"Basic self defense," Bucky answered with a straight face.

"She's six!" Happy said, his voice steadily growing louder, "Why are you teaching her self defense? Was it because she was teased a few months ago, because that was taken care of,"

Natasha winced as Happy's voice rose above slightly above the noise of the party, but Pepper didn't turn around, caught up in a conversation with Hope van Dyne. Nebula assumed that they had gotten lucky.

"She wanted to Happy," Bucky said.

A silence fell over the conversation as Happy calmed down, still looking unimpressed.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt," he said. Nebula, Bucky, and Natasha smiled.

"Sam!" Bucky shouted across the room, "Did you what Happy said!? Morgan's self defense is a good idea!"

"W-wait, I never said that,"

"MORGAN'S WHAT?!" came Pepper's screech from the kitchen. Pepper came storming out of the kitchen, steaming spoon in hand.

"James Barnes, you had better not be teaching my daughter how to fight," she said, pointing the spoon at Bucky as she came closer, "Is this why she's been stabbing her stuffed animals with plastic knives for the past couple of weeks?"

"Yes," Bucky squeaked out, because no matter what you have been through or how brave you are, there is nothing more terrifying than an angry Pepper.

"She was getting made fun of at school, and we were worried," Nebula stepped in, "She likes it,"

"Oh does she?"

"Yup!" a young voice said. Morgan had snuck into the middle of the conversation and latched onto Pepper's legs. She made pleading eyes at her mom.

"I like it a lot. Don't yell at them please," She said in a small voice.

Nebula watched as Pepper melted a little.

"Fine," Pepper said, "But no real knives,"

Bucky and Natasha nodded.

"Of course not," Bucky said.

Morgan unlatched from her mother's legs, letting her go back to the kitchen. The little girl then turned around and looked at Bucky with accusing eyes.

"It was supposed to be a super secret," she said.

Somehow, Nebula found herself laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When your last chapter is five words off from being longer than the first two chapters put together  
> Thanks for reading!!!
> 
> ***110 reads!!!! HOLY SHOOT THAT'S A LOT!!! THANK YOU!!!***


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